


Inherit The Earth

by LemonScience33



Category: Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 21:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5471579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonScience33/pseuds/LemonScience33
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The visitors’ center is like the ruins of an ancient temple, covered in plants and collapsed in some places.</p><p>“It’s just like I remember,” Dr. Sattler whispers. “It’s been so long.” </p><p>It’s just like Claire remembers, too, though it doesn’t feel like it’s been very long. <i>A year</i>, she reminds herself. <i>A year</i>, and she still isn’t over this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inherit The Earth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crazykookie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazykookie/gifts).



> The night Jurassic World premiered, I cosplayed Ellie Sattler for the 7pm show. Afterward, I bought a spur-of-the-moment ticket on my phone, left the theatre for dinner, and came back at 10:15 to see it again. I watched the film five times that week, which is something I'd never done before.
> 
> I've been wanting to write a piece featuring Ellie and Claire since that first night, but I couldn't figure out how they would meet or why. Ellie would never return to the island, would she? And what could possibly lead her to sign off on another attempt at the park?
> 
> crazykookie asked for Claire Dearing plus "any of the women from any of the Jurassic Park films" and offered a few ideas, including "bonding over dinosaur trauma with other Jurassic women" and "archaeological exploration of 20 year old Jurassic Park ruins." 
> 
> Yuletide is technically supposed to be a gift from me to my reader, but this prompt kicked loose a story I've been wanting to write since June, and it feels like I'm the one getting a gift. :) I hope my love for these women shows, and I hope you like this half as much as I do.

_God creates dinosaurs._  
  
_God destroys dinosaurs._

_God creates man._

_Man destroys God._

_Man creates dinosaurs._

 

* * *

 

“Are you alright?”

Claire looks up, startled, from her position on the most out-of-the-way bench in the visitors’ center. She clears her throat, trying to stem the feeling of her airway closing off.

“Of course,” Claire says, forcing a polite smile, and her chest is tight. She hears herself saying, “I’m fine,” and her voice shakes, and she has enough presence of mind to be horrified.

The other woman frowns.

Claire’s heart is pounding, pounding, and she fights the panic that she will lose track of where she is again. She wants the woman to leave.

“I’m Ellie,” the woman says.

“I’m really fine,” Claire chokes out.

The woman nods, still frowning. “Alright,” she says gently.

Dr. Ellie Sattler walks away, and Claire feels sick, hot shame wash over her.

Her hands shake until they go numb.

 

-

 

The World, as it were, is riding on this dinner.

They’ve spared no expense.

If Jurassic World is ever to reopen, they’ll need the testimonials that Hammond failed to garner for the original park. If Drs. Sattler and Grant sign off on the park, give the approval they never gave before, then the public might believe them. The park might be able to open again.

Unfortunately, Claire has already made the worst first impression of her career.

Dr. Sattler’s face is devoid of makeup, but she is striking, and the way she’s pulled her hair away from her face only emphasizes her strong cheekbones and the straight line of her nose. Dr. Grant sits by her side, saying very little but smiling at her often – their recent marriage was big news in the paleontology community.

Over the main course, Claire makes her pitch, which she has carefully crafted and rehearsed. She watches with growing anxiety as it fails to have the desired effect.

Dr. Sattler’s blue eyes look gray in the low light of the dining room. “I’m going to need more than assurances to support this, Miss Dearing,” she says, pushing away from the table and standing. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Dr. Grant smiles tightly and follows her with a curt, “Excuse me.”

Three bowls of ginger ice cream arrive, and Claire only sends one of them back.

 

-

 

When Dr. Sattler finds Claire the next morning at breakfast, Claire is on her third cup of coffee after another night filled with too-familiar nightmares.

Dr. Sattler pours coffee into a travel mug and stirs in two sugars. “I’m sorry I was so abrupt yesterday,” she says.

It’s not what Claire was expecting. “Not at all,” she replies.

“Can we take a walk?”

Claire summons her public relations smile. “Where to?” she says.

Dr. Sattler looks at her feet, and Claire sees her jaw clench. She draws in a slow breath.

When Dr. Sattler speaks, her voice is low and deliberately steady, and Claire hears the barest hint of a tremor. “I’d like to see the old visitors’ center, if you don’t mind,” she says, and looks up. “What’s left of it.”

 

-

 

The visitors’ center is like the ruins of an ancient temple, covered in plants and collapsed in some places.

“It’s just like I remember,” Dr. Sattler whispers. “It’s been so long.”

It’s just like Claire remembers, too, though it doesn’t feel like it’s been very long. _A year_ , she reminds herself. _A year_ , and she still isn’t over this.

Dr. Sattler steps over the shattered remains of a fossilized rib lying next to its former ribcage. “Sometimes I still can’t believe we survived, those of us who did.” She looks back at Claire with a slanted smile. “Lex – Hammond’s granddaughter who was with us in the park – is about your age now, maybe a little older. She dealt with the worst of the aftermath, I think.”

Claire doesn’t know what to say to that, in this place where so many horrors have occurred. Dr. Sattler makes her way around the rotunda, holding a torch near the walls so she can look at the fading art, and Claire follows a few steps behind.

 

-

 

They go to the control room last.

The window is shattered.

Claire has read the reports, but seeing it is something different. Dr. Sattler takes deep breaths, and Claire knows how that feels, feels it every day.

Dr. Sattler shuts the door behind them and leans against it. She closes her eyes.

“Here’s what you do,” she says, her head resting against the door. “Here’s what will get me to sign off: No more carnivores. Let the ones you currently have live out the rest of their natural lives. Then no more. I want it in writing.”

Claire’s heart pounds with what feels like relief. “The investors think people won’t come to a dinosaur park full of herbivores,” she says carefully.

Ellie opens her eyes and smiles faintly, and Claire thinks she gets it. “I think that’s bullshit. I also think people won’t come at all if you don’t improve your public image.”

Claire smiles back, and this time it’s genuine. “I know,” she says.

 

-

 

They return to the rotunda.

Ellie takes a seat on the staircase, which is caked with years of dust turned to mud in the island’s humidity. Claire, who hasn’t worn white in over a year, doesn’t have to hesitate before sitting next to her.

Ellie traces her fingers through the dirt, drawing patterns between them on the stair. “It’s brave what you’re trying to do here, Claire.”

Claire blinks at the compliment and fights the urge to argue.

Yes, Claire has been brave before, in the past. But there’s nothing brave about nightmares. There’s nothing brave about hyperventilating in the visitors’ center in front of Dr. Ellie Sattler just because a someone turned on the instructional hologram and Claire wasn’t expecting to see a raptor in her path.

“I mean it,” Ellie says. Her voice is soft and rough. “I haven’t been to this island in over twenty years. I’ve been married twice, raised a child, taught classes to what feels like the last generation of students who still care about fossils, and I sometimes I still have nightmares about this place. Look at you, Claire. Here you are, rebuilding the place that almost killed us both. That’s foolhardy if you do it wrong, but it’s brave if you do it right.”

Claire huffs out something that isn’t quite a laugh. A small spark of pride ignites in her chest, and she lets herself feel it.

“You want my advice on how to get people to come here?” Ellie says. Her eyes sparkle in the torch light, and Claire realizes she’s crying. “Make these dinosaurs look like real dinosaurs. Use what Alan and his colleagues have learned in the past twenty years. Make a park that’s more than just a fantasy. If you do it right, Claire, you could build something good here, something real.”

They sit like that for a long time, in silence.

“I think we could, couldn’t we?” Claire says.

 

-

 

Claire lets Ellie drive them back.

“You’d think it would be the Indominus that I dream about the most,” Claire hears herself say as they pass a flock of gallimimus, “but it’s not.”

“Nightmares can be unpredictable,” Ellie says.

They drive further on.

Ellie glances at Claire. “Wanna talk about it?”

Claire sighs. “It’s dumb.”

“I’ll go first,” Ellie offers.

Claire can’t think of a reason to say no. Maybe, she realizes, she doesn’t want to say no. “Deal,” she says.

Ellie rubs her index finger back and forth along the steering wheel, and Claire’s eyes are drawn to the motion. “You know how raptors sound, yeah?” Ellie says softly, and Claire nods. “For years, if I heard a recording of a dolphin – you know, echolocation slowed down, that high-pitched squeal – I’d think it was a raptor. I had so many nightmares about pods of raptors that could swim and packs of dolphins chasing me on land.” Ellie smiles at Claire, then turns back to the road. “Only Alan, Lex, and my InGen-approved therapist know about that. And now you.”

It's Claire's turn now, and she swallows. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but sometimes I dream I’m a baby triceratops in the petting zoo,” she says. “Everyone is running and I’m just scared. I’m powerless. The raptors come, and the T. rex comes, and they never even eat me. I’m just paralyzed. Terrified. And I’m wearing a saddle.” Claire finds herself laughing about it for the first time. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, The nightmares about the Indominus are worse, but they don’t come as often because she’s dead. One of the raptors is still alive, though. Her trainer, Owen, recaptured her and basically threw himself on top of her to prevent her from being euthanized.”

“That sounds like Alan,” Ellie says fondly, “except he definitely wouldn’t do it for a raptor.”

“Owen’s also smellier,” Claire says.

Ellie laughs. “You’ve never smelled Alan after a day in a dinosaur park.”

Claire’s smile is wide and genuine. “Well, when we have a dinosaur park again, I’ll be sure to invite you both back.”

 

-

 

Lex is the last to give her opinion on the rebuilt park. She pets a brachiosaur, holds one of the new feathered baby gallimimus, and drives a gyrosphere through the herds.

She asks to see T. Rex Kingdom last.

When they get there, it’s almost dinner time. The T. rex lumbers to the feeding station. Ellie gives Lex’s elbow a supportive squeeze, and Lex takes a few deep breaths and clears her throat. “It’s slower than I remember,” she says.

Claire touches the glass, watching the dinosaur who saved them all. “She’s getting older.”

Lex nods thoughtfully. “I guess she is.”

 

-

 

At the investors gala that night, Lex introduces Claire to her brother Tim, who wants to know everything about the behind-the-scenes of the park.

Claire passes him off to Owen and watches them begin a conversation that will no doubt last the rest of the evening. She snags two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and hands one to Lex, who accepts it gratefully.

“Tim is a professional falconer,” Lex says, “Though I’ve always found birds of prey to be a bit too familiar, you know? I do 3D modeling. For video games, that kind of thing.” She takes a sip of her champagne. “What would you say about a tie-in? A park building game, or something, I don’t know.” She grins. “Something to get people excited about all these vegetarians.”

Claire lets out a breath she’d been holding for years. “That sounds like a fantastic idea,” she says, “and I would love to discuss it further.”

 _This time_ , Claire thinks, _it will work_.

 

-

 

The New York Times headline reads, _A Whole New World: Jurassic Park’s Survivors Endorse the Rebuilt Park_.

Every news outlet picks up the story.

The website’s servers crash under the attention, but within a few hours, the team is able to get them back online.

Tickets sell out for the first six months before the park even reopens.

 

-

 

In the new visitors’ center, in Claire’s office, there are a few new pictures hanging on the walls.

Above a bench near the holograms, there is a plaque thanking Jurassic World’s supporters, with a few new names at the bottom.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Dinosaurs eat man._

_Woman inherits the earth._


End file.
